Before a high-level visit to Washington: That’s why Biden should now invite Selensky again

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The White House announced this weekend that U.S. ties with Ukraine are “unwavering.” And yet the visit of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy (45) to Washington on Tuesday is now causing a political earthquake in the most powerful country in the world.

Not only Kiev’s success in the fight against the Russians is at stake; Without the next aid package to Ukraine being blocked by the Republicans, the country will be defenseless against the accomplices of Vladimir Putin (71). The political survival of US President Joe Biden (81) is also at stake. He is currently making the riskiest foreign policy move since taking office.

By inviting Zelenskiy back to Washington, Biden is tying his own political fate to Kiev’s military success. If the stricken Eastern European country fails on the battlefield, Zelenskiy’s main patron will be seen as a geopolitical failure.

Republicans aren’t taking Biden’s bait

According to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, Americans have spent $71 billion since the war began. There is still almost 6 billion euros (approximately the annual budget of the Swiss military) in the pot that the US can spend on Ukraine until the end of the year. After that, life-saving aid from abroad will definitively end.

Because Republicans have so far stuck to blocking further aid. Biden enriched Kiev’s $61 billion munitions and weapons box with generous military aid to Israel and Taiwan. Both world zones that conservative Republicans care more about than Ukraine. But the bait doesn’t work. The party of Donald Trump (77) is calling for massive investments in the protective wall on the Mexican border and a review of US migration policy. Otherwise, aid to Ukraine will be stopped.

Zelensky recently made it personally clear what drying up America’s source of war would mean for his country: “If we don’t get America’s help, we will lose,” the president said during his latest visit to the US. US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen (77) underlined this gloomy prophecy last week, emphasizing that the US would be “responsible for the Ukrainian defeat” if no deal were reached.

One in two Americans says: Stop now!

Meanwhile, the situation on the Ukrainian front is getting worse. Russia reports new advances almost every day. Ukrainian leaders admit the difficult situation. The commanders in Avdiivka, Bakhmut and Kreminna lack new troops and sharp weapons.

But the Americans increasingly seem unconcerned about the war in a faraway country. According to a Financial Times survey, 48 percent of the country believes the US already supplies too much to Zelenskiy. Critical voices are also increasing among Democrats.

For the cold warrior Biden, Kiev is increasingly becoming a hot potato. Trump shouts off camera that he would “end the war between Russia and Ukraine within 24 hours.” And more and more Americans are coming to the conclusion that they must first improve their own country before sending more guns to a country across the Atlantic. Biden’s Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin (70), on the other hand, warns that in the event of a Russian march through Kiev, America will soon have to send its sons to war to defend NATO’s eastern flank against the Russians.

Trump is clearly leading the way

Donald Trump is currently well ahead of Joe Biden in the polls. Nearly a year before the final vote on November 5, 2024, signs point to a return of the 77-year-old former president. If he wins, US aid to Ukraine will likely be over. So there is only one way for Biden to continue to support Ukraine: he must win the coming elections. The more he commits himself to Zelensky’s success on the battlefield, the more difficult this becomes.

Biden should withdraw Zelenskiy’s invitation on Tuesday and meet Republicans’ demands for the border wall. Painful steps. But necessary to thwart the icy strategist Putin in the medium term.

Source: Blick